Ongoing Buster saga..
This just won't go away. Tonight at dinner Mac starts barking outside, so Michael says, "She misses her Buster" and then proceeds to ask me again where Buster went. So this time I say he went to dog heaven. He stares at me, not having the first idea what I mean by 'heaven' and just before I'm about to add, 'where all good dogs go', I realize I'm talking to my son about heaven for the first time and I'm about to make a deep theological statement that I don't want to make.
Quickly deducing that my son probably is too young to comprehend to the redeeming work of Christ on the cross or the hope of new life offered through the empty tomb, and that I don't think that relates to Buster anyways, I said, "Buster got sick." To which he responded, "When he gets un-sick can he come back."
Beautiful.
posted by jeff @ 6:22 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
So, is it tacky to suggest that you just tell him that Buster died? I didn't grow up on a farm (as did Mika), but I did grow up in a family that hunted a lot. Probably heavily influenced by this, I think we're way over-conscious today talking about death. In fact, I'd say that, as a culture, we shelter our children from the reality far too much.
Now, this is coming from someone that tells his kids that there is no Santa and no Easter Bunny. And, from someone who slaughtered/cleaned a deer in his parent's front yard this thanksgiving with his kids present (my 4yr old watched us cut off the head, then approached it and said "Daddy, it's eyes are still open, can I close them?" but wasn't freaked out at all). And yet I'm also the one that tells his kids that their Nana is simply "very sick" instead of trying to explain that she has stage 4 lung cancer and has already lived much longer than doctor's would have predicted. So, I may not be entirely consistent.
you should tell him mommy prayed for buster... now get your brother some milk beofre she prays for you too...
is that bad?
yeah jason that is probably bad....although quite funny!
Again, I regress...Buster's dead?
I'm with kec. But then again, I'm someone else who doesn't do Santa or the Easter Bunny with my 3 year-old. I'm also a little funny in that every night I try to get her into a mode of thanksgiving and confession in her prayer life. I ask her, "What do you want to thank God for today?" and "Is there anything you want to tell God you're sorry about?".
My take is that it's never too soon to start on these concepts. We've also talked about how Jesus died so that we can spend forever with God. I know that she's got a ways to go before fully understanding this and having a saving faith, but I'd rather start too soon than too late.
I'd say we've all "got a ways to go before fully understanding [Jesus' redeeming us through His death on the cross and rising for the dead]".
Growing up I believed in Santa Claus. I'm not sure if I every really thought there was an Easter Bunny. I definitely believed in the Tooth Fairy, though.
I've never shot a gun. So, that eliminates hunting, and I have never been a huge fan of fishing. However, I wouldn't say that I was sheltered from death. We had a plethora of pets come and go through the years.
I endured this blend of fanatsy and "reality" and would say I am no worse off for it.
I'm not sure where I picked up a healthy understanding of death being a part of life, but I am pretty sure it wasn't from my folks being completely open and honest about my favorite pet taking a long walk off a short pier.
i was thinking you should change the subtitle of your blog... only because my guess is it was really less fun when it all made perfect sense... couldn't imagine it being much more fun than it is right now...
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